AN: The hard thing with this series is that I wrote so much into the future and out of chronological sequence, and I felt this scene was needed even if it doesn't quite fit with this fic, but I didn't want to do a separate small fic for it. So an epilogue was the best place I could think of to put it. It's set during events in Fate, and contains spoilers for quite a few fics. You have been warned.

Returning to Zefiel City, even eight years after Dianna's murder, had been hard. But Lina would have never forgiven herself if she'd not see her ailing parents one last time. Still, it was not easy to walk through the streets of Zefiel City and to wonder if each person she passed had been part of the mob that had killed Dianna or not, so she spent most of her time with her parents, stepping out only to visit Dianna's grave. She had expected it to be poorly tended. Luna admitted she seldom visited her grave and spent more time at her shrine and felt closer to her there. And despite all of the lives that Dianna had saved through her work, given how quickly the town had turned on her Lina was sure that her grave would be vandalized. So when she found that not only was it well maintained, but that someone had left a bouquet of marigolds there, she was moved to tears.

Lina quickly ruled out her parents as suspects for having left them. Neither of them could leave the house anymore. She didn't have to puzzle long over who had tended the grave, though. When she returned to the store she found that Julienne was visiting, and she told Lina about how she had been horrified when Dianna had been murdered and how she and the other midwives had organized to care for her grave. Julienne was not the last person to seek her out. Women whose lives Dianna had saved and children she had delivered came by also, saying they wished they had heard of what was going on before it was too late to stop it. Morris had apparently been in with a group who had fixated on the mystery that Dianna presented and was quick to call on them when he'd discovered their secret, to tragic consequences. They assured her that most of the town was horrified by what had happened. Part of Lina wanted to question why, if that was the case, then had the people responsible never been brought to justice, but she let it go, because hearing their stories and learning that she, Gourry and the girls weren't the only ones who missed Dianna warmed Lina and she didn't want to drive it away.

The support of the midwives, who offered to help nurse her parents through their final days, helped her through that final separation. Given that Lina had spent years away from them she was surprised by how deeply she felt their loss. Still, she soon received a letter from Pomona that Attie was adjusting poorly to motherhood and they desperately needed her at home if at all possible, and the needs of her living daughters outweighed those of her deceased parents. She would simply have to recover by the time she reached Saillune City.

Before she left Zefiel City, though, she went for what would be one final visit to Dianna's grave. She was a bit surprised to find that someone else was there, and when she drew close enough to recognize him a strange feeling she couldn't identify rushed through her. Somehow, it had never occurred to her to wonder how Kenneth had reacted to the news of her death.

"Kenneth." She acknowledged as she caught up to him and noted the bouquet of marigolds in his hands.

"Lina." He said gruffly as he continued to stare at the headstone.

She stood beside him as she asked, "How've you been?"

"Busy." He said. "I remarried two years ago. We have a small baby now. Noisy house. Large workload. You know how it is."

"Yes." She said.

"How has your family been?"

"It's been a struggle. But we move forward." Lina said, and for a brief moment she wondered if she should tell him that she had talked to Dianna and that she still existed in a fashion. But then she decided against it. He had a family that needed him.

They were silent for an awkward moment, and then he set the marigolds at Dianna's grave. "You should have told me."

"Huh?" Lina said.

"Knowing would have made all the difference, we could have made it work. When I found out…" He bit his tongue, "But then, when I think about what happened when everyone found out, part of me can't blame you, or her, for never trusting me with your secret. Your fears were well founded, weren't they? I've gone back and forth for years since she died over who to be mad at and who to blame. But I wish you'd given me the opportunity to prove that I wouldn't have betrayed her."

Lina stared at him for a moment in shock, and then she felt a familiar hot wetness on her cheeks. Kenneth wiped his eyes as he turned around, "Good bye Lina."

Kenneth walked away as Lina wiped the tears from her eyes, but they quickly filled with more. From her years spent grieving Dianna she knew she would just have to wait until they dried up. She wasn't sure how long she cried until they did, but when she had exhausted her tears she decided she would not live with such regrets. There was a new child in the family cursed like Dianna. All she could do now was take what they had learned from raising Dianna and to do better by Corentina. She looked towards the south, the direction Saillune City was in, turned towards it, and once again put one foot in front of the other towards her future.

AN: Got this out before 2018 ended! Good riddance 2018, I will not miss you one iota! Hoping for a better 2019!